A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Photo Credit: Pixabay Why do some people say Mr. Trump instead of President Trump? In everyday usage, or in journalistic reporting/editorial writing? Since I studied journalism and mass communications in high school  and  college, I’ll start with how mass media refers to presidents and foreign leaders. Although newspaper and news magazines’ stylebooks allow for local variations when dealing with honorifics and titles (the  New York Times  usually places honorifics such as Mr., Mrs., or Ms. before a person’s last name upon second reference), the general style rule is: Use a government official’s title and complete name on first reference, e.g. “President Donald Trump.” After that, use the person’s last name only, e.g. “When Trump was asked about the issue, he said, ‘Fake news!’” In print media, page space is like real estate: a valuable commodity that is measured in column inches. Newspapers especially have only so much space on a page, and there is a...

Is becoming a journalist as easy as it seems? No. Becoming a journalist (and remaining one) is  not  easy. Granted, it’s not as difficult or expensive as studying to be a lawyer or a doctor. But it’s not as easy as, say, sitting behind a computer keyboard and making up stuff - as Alex Jones seems to like to do - for blogs or websites along the lines of InfoWars. First, you have to take a lot of classes, first in middle school/high school, and then in college. Not only do you need to take the core curriculum classes that are required for your high school diploma, but you also need to sign up for specialized classes, such as Basic Reporting, Advanced Editing and Page Makeup, and (if you want to be a photojournalist) News Photography. Second, you need to have free time after school to work on the school newspaper, learn to meet deadlines, and develop a thick skin that will not only help you deal with the inevitable writer-editor dynamic but also with difficult assig...

The cover for the Strike Fleet computer game developed by Lucasfilm Games and Electronic Arts. I had the Apple II version, which had similar artwork. Note: Strike Fleet did not feature an Iowa- class battleship in gameplay. (C) 1987 Lucasfilm Games and Electronic Arts Test your skills on these new simulations  (Originally published in the April 20, 1989 issue of Catalyst ) Alex Diaz-Granados Spectrum Editor Since the advent of the personal computer over a decade ago, millions of PC owners have enjoyed the challenge of computer games and simulations. Although arcade-style programs such as Pac-Man and Galaxian are popular, most computer game aficionados prefer the more complicated "simulations that are increasing in realism, complexity and variety. Datasoft's The Hunt for Red October, based on Tom Clancy's 1984 best-selling novel, is a simulation of a Soviet Typhoon-class nuclear missile sub which is attempting to defect to the United States. Problem i...

My sig box from Miami-Dade Community College, South Campus' student paper, circa 1987  When I was a journalism student at Miami-Dade Community College’s South (now Kendall) Campus, I worked on the campus student newspaper from 1985 to 1989. I started out as a Staff Writer and finished my “tour of duty” as Managing Editor. As a result of this unusually long stint, I had the opportunity to write for every section of the paper: News, Opinions, Diversions, Features, and even Sports. I was even the campus paper’s first foreign correspondent when I participated in the College Consortium for International Studies’ Semester in Spain – Seville program in the Fall Term of the 1988-89. One of my favorite assignments was as a contributor for an experimental Features section that we ran during the Winter Term of the ’86-87 academic year. It was called About Time. In it, we published pieces about different personal experiences, ranging from humorous to bathetic topics based on events...

Author's Note: This review first appeared in an issue of Catalyst, Miami-Dade Community College, South Campus' student newspaper in  November of 1986.  Star Trek IV - a treat you will enjoy this holiday season Alex Diaz-Granados Copy Editor Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, actor-director Leonard Nimoy's second entry in the continuing saga of Admiral Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the rest of the crew, is the best film of the series to date. It's a holiday present sure to please. The Voyage Home takes up the story three months after the rescue of Spock from the doomed Genesis planet. Self-exiled on Vulcan with his officers, Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) has saved his friend, but at great cost - his son is dead, his beloved Enterprise destroyed and his career is in jeopardy. Meanwhile, the Klingons are demanding the Federation Council extradite Kirk for his "crimes against galactic peace,"(if stopping a Klingon plot to take Genesis can be called ...

When I started taking journalism courses at a local college in the mid-1980s, I was under the impression that I was well-prepared to be a college-level writer for the campus’ student newspaper.  I had studied the basics of news writing, reporting, editing, and page makeup for two years in high school, and I had been a section editor during my sophomore and senior years.  I even earned A’s consistently in my journalism courses. So imagine my surprise, two years after I had graduated from high school, when I stepped into my JOU 1100 classroom for the first time and felt as though I had actually studied just enough to get by in class but had much more to learn. It’s possible that I felt that way because I had added Prof. Townsend’s class two days into the Fall term (my Pell Grant had just been approved and I needed to become a full-time student, so I added Basic Reporting and Introduction to Radio and Television to my schedule) and was nervous.  Perhaps I was keenly...

An Odd Couple For most of his life, Washington was in love with a woman named Sally Fairfax, wife of George William Fairfax -- Washington's neighbor and best friend. Although his passions for the worldly and beautiful Sally probably never waned, Washington settled for a much more practical match: the widow Martha Custis, whose considerable holdings made him the wealthy gentleman he longed to be. The two were married in January 1759 and made an odd couple indeed -- George, a giant for his time at about 6' 2", towered over his portly bride, whose head didn't make it to his shoulders.   -- Cormac O'Brien,  Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the Men of the White House   Do you remember your American History classes in high school or college? Remember having to take notes full of dry facts and statistics about such topics as the Articles of Confederation, the Federalist Papers, the Whiskey Rebellion, the Smoot-Hawley Act,...

When I was a 25-year-old college sophomore and majoring in Journalism/Mass Communications, I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take part in an overseas-study program co-sponsored by Miami-Dade Community College’s Foreign Language Department and the College Consortium for International Studies. At the time, I had just about taken most of the required courses for my Associate in Arts degree except math (my bete noir) and three credits’ worth of the foreign language pre-requisite. I had also, or so I thought, done everything I had set out to do as a reporter/editor at the campus student newspaper, so I was feeling a bit unmoored and restless without a plan for what I figured would be my final year on the staff. Looking back on it now, I’m not sure what, exactly, prompted me to sign up for the Semester in Spain program. Part of it, I’m sure, was a sense that this would be my best chance to go to Europe for a significant amount of time. Maybe it was my journalist’s instinctive...

In Spain, soccer is a wild, no-holds barred contest January 26, 1989 Alex Diaz-Granados Columnist SEVILLE, Spain (CCIS Program) When one is in Spain, one must do as the Spaniards do, or so we've been told by the College Consortium for International Studies Center staff when we ask about how to enjoy our free time here. This applies to everything -- from eating lunch at 2 p.m. and dinner between 9 and 10 p.m. to drinking tall glasses of "cerveza Cruzcampo" (the Spanish Budweiser) with tapas at one of the billions of bars in the city. And for those of us with a desire to be athletic (even if it's once during a 12-week term), it applies to playing sports. Because soccer is the national sport here, it was only natural that we, too, would want to catch a little "futbol fever." Most of the time we watched soccer games on Spanish television, although quite a few of us went to see the Spain-Argentina exhibition game or the Spain-Ireland game,...

Study abroad is more than educational: it’s an experience Alex Diaz-Granados Columnist (Originally published in the December 1, 1988 issue of Catalyst ) SEVILLE, Spain (CCIS Program) Over the past six weeks of my stay here in Seville as a participant in the College Consortium for International Studies’ Semester in Spain program, I have come to understand how challenging studying abroad really is. Several other students from this campus are also taking part in this program. In many respects, studying abroad is no different from studying at our home college or university. We have our schedule set up much like we do in the U.S. with lectures and reading assignments. We have midterms and finals, of course, although in some classes final exams are given at the director’s discretion. Unlike studying in the U.S., we’re learning about a different country’s history, culture, government and economic system, not by reading about these in a textbook, but by living in it. “It’s be...